Rebirth and Glory
by bombplaya3
Summary: -REDONE-The second Titan War draws closer, and needless to say, Percy is worried. How will he handle it all? And what happens if the unthinkable happens-he dies? Rated T for now. Formerly titled "Perseus Jackson: Rebirth and Glory" DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, I just wanted to thank anyone that actually stuck around, even after I completely ditched the first version of this. I think that you'll notice that there is still the same general plotline, but I hope that it's written better. Anyways, here we go.**

Rebirth and Glory

Chapter 1

_Slash. Stab. Spin. Breathe in. Breathe out. Parry. Stab. Charge_.

It was dark out, already late into the night, definitely past curfew. But I was sure that no one would mind if I was up and about practicing. I had come out here to try to let go of everything. Sword fighting came easily to me now. I could completely fall into it now, letting o of everything else. And I definitely had a lot to let go of.

The prophecy rested completely on my shoulders. I was fifteen, and each passing day brought me closer to my sixteenth birthday. The day that I would either save Olympus or doom it. My eyebrows knit just a little bit closer together with that thought.

There was a lot of pressure on my back; there was no question about that. But I couldn't help but think that I had enough support to pull through. I had Nico, Grover, Thalia, and Annabeth for starters. But even past that, I had the whole camp behind me.

I dropped my shield and sword arm, confident that the dummy wouldn't be bothering anyone again. It surely wouldn't be plotting to destroy Western civilization or even tear down Olympus "brick by brick", like a certain someone that I knew.

I stared at the dummy for a moment, trying no to let my malevolent thoughts overwhelm me. I angrily pushed them from my mind, blood pounding in my ears as my heart sped up its beating.

In one slow deft movement, I approached the dummy, unsheathing the celestial bronze knife that Chiron had forced me into carrying. Yeah, as if a three and a half foot sword wasn't enough protection.

Slowly almost painfully, I dragged the sharp tip of the knife across the left side of the dummy's face. A shallow cut now trailed from the left eye almost all the way to the mouth. I could almost see his piercing blue eyes now.

I smiled apologetically; some part of me was still disgusted with what I had to do. Well, practice makes perfect they always say.

So, with that thought on my mind, I stretched my arm back and lopped off the dummy's head, like I was some Greek executioner.

Straw flew up into the air.

It felt then like I was attacked by the dummy's revenge. Instantly, the dam around my thoughts burst, flooding into my mind with the force of the waters that were held back by the Hoover dam. Images and half-formed musings rushed through my head.

_I've gotta kill Luke. But I don't want to. I love Annabeth. I want Annabeth. I NEED Annabeth. But she loves Luke. But I have to train. But Annabeth loves Luke. He's evil. I have to protect everyone. But I love Annabeth. I have to kill Luke. I have to train. I have to kill Luke._

The rest of my half-mad ranting was lost to a change in my surroundings.

Luke towered over me, silver and gold scythe glinting evilly, as he raised it above his head to make the final strike. The final strike that would end my pain. I closed my eyes tightly, as if my eyelids could make it all go away.

Seconds passed. I opened my eye tentatively only to discover that the scene had frozen, and that I was now behind Luke. He still had the scythe above his head and was looking down at…uh…the …other...me.

I took in a breath and blinked rapidly, trying to convince myself that what I was seeing wasn't really what I was seeing.

It was during one of those blinks that the situation changed. Suddenly, Luke was on the floor, frothing at the mouth and writhing in terrible pain. I blinked again and saw the faint gold line outlining his form. I watched as every cut, every bruise, every _scar_-even the one on his face-disappeared. And then a dark purple liquid floated out of every pore of his body. It bubbled and moved of its own accord, as if it was searching for something. The word parasite floated up to my brain.

Finally, the other Percy picked up Riptide, and with a loud scream of rage, thrust the tip of the sword into the ground, right in the middle of the menacing purple puddle. The sword broke, but the puddle screeched and boiled away.

I gave a shout of surprise, glad that the puddle was gone. But I looked into the other Percy's eyes; he didn't look surprised at all. He looked triumphant.

And then his brilliant green eyes met my own pair for the first time. I swear, nothing could shock this Percy! He didn't even flinch when he me standing there. He gave a tiny smirk and tossed his Camp necklace at me.

I caught it and stared at it in amazement. A tiny scythe had appeared on the very end of the string. I looked back up at him and his smirk was a full-blown grin now.

"Good luck," Percy called. "You're gonna need it."

As soon as he said this, his eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped to the floor, unconscious.

And then, as soon as I had left, I was back in the training arena, still in the same position. I felt more tired than I had ever felt before in my life. But I still held onto the camp necklace.

But before I could examine it any further, I felt a numbness creep up my legs. They turned to jelly and before I hit the ground, I was already long unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Annabeth's POV

I gently smoothed back Percy's messy, jet-black hair from his forehead. But as soon as I let it spring back, it flopped over his forehead again. When was he going to tackle it with a comb?

We had found him in the training arena, unconscious. He hadn't come to breakfast in the morning, and the whole camp immediately grew uneasy. If he wasn't around, who was going to take the prophecy? If he had run off, we would have to wait for Nico to come of age. So the whole camp spread out over the whole camp, just searching for a certain son of Poseidon. It was ironic that nobody thought to check the arena. I mean, he is getting ready to fight against the lord of time. Shouldn't he be even a little bit prepared?

So while everyone else frantically looked high and low, I grabbed onto Chiron's arm and tugged him over to the training arena. I sighed in exasperation as I spied Percy lying flat on his back on the floor.

"I swear to Zeus, Chiron, (thunder crackled ominously overhead) he's going to kill himself before he even meets Kronos on the battlefield." I grumbled.

"Indeed, child, indeed." Chiron agreed with me.

So after much pulling and pushing, I was able to get Percy up onto Chiron's back, so that we could take him to the Big House. He weighed a ton!

As we had marched through the camp, I could almost feel the tension dissipate. It seemed like the campers all let go on one simultaneously held breath. Soon, campers were back to their normal activities.

But I stood by Percy bed, waiting for him to wake up.

That was over two days ago.

Percy still hadn't woken up, and he was really starting to worry me. His breath came quick and shallow, so different from the sleep-like breaths he had been taking when we found him on the ground in the arena.

Every so often, his arms would tense and his muscles bulged under his skin. His throat got tight and the veins n his temples pulsed rapidly. Then he began to seize.

The first time it happened, I was so frightened. I immediately called for a child of Apollo. I was screaming so loudly that four of them came. They all looked at Percy and all came up with the same thing. "We can't do anything for him. He has to pull through by himself."

But of course, me and my damn hubris, I thought that I could handle it even better than him. But I didn't even know where to start.

I jerked myself back to the present and looked into Percy's face, just trying to pry him from whatever torture he was going through, with my eyes alone. He looked so peaceful at the moment, almost as if he would just wake up and runoff to the arena. I chuckled to myself softly, and immediately felt guilty. I shouldn't be laughing when my best friend was lying stone cold on the bed in front of me. So I tried to stifle my giggles, but I couldn't help it. He looked just like a big baby, lying there. I just wanted to gather him into a hug, something completely unlike me.

But behind my giggles was an inkling of truth. I knew that Percy could take care of himself(even though I've had to save his ass plenty of times), but that still didn't stop me from wanting to wrap him in a hug and never let anything hurt him ago. I wanted to protect him, and selfishly keep him all to myself.

I sighed. Where were all these emotions coming from? I looked back at Percy and I saw his right arm clench up. That was the first sign of his seizure.

"Chiron! It's another one!" I yelled out tiredly.

I prayed to Zeus and whatever other gods I could think of off the top of my head that Percy would never EVER remember this. It had become common for me to do, but it still sent butterflies through my stomach.

As soon as I saw the veins in his temple and neck pulse, I swung myself off the chair by his bed…and directly onto Percy.

I literally had to straddle him, one leg on either side of his waist, just to force his upper body to stay down on the bed. The second time Percy had an episode, the Apollo kids were still in the room when I took charge and "restrained" Percy. They had all looked at me with equal portions of respect and laughter on their faces, and even though I put up an indifferent front, I couldn't stop the blood from rushing to my cheeks.

But I was even more embarrassed to say that in some corner of my mind, I was enjoying it. I finally had the upper hand on Percy in physical strength.

"HA! I'm on top!...Wait, that sounded…" I thought to myself.

But Percy's thrashing started, pulling me out of my trance once again. I heard the clip clop of Chiron's hooves as he trotted into the room, and the thrashing diminished a little.

I'm sure that if anyone walked in at this moment, I would have died of embarrassment as Percy's fit reached its climax.

Percy's head clipped mine on the forehead, right between the eyes and I quietly threatened him.

"I'm so gonna pay you back for that, Seaweed Brain."

I could almost hear Chiron's eye roll behind me and his mumbling that sounded suspiciously like, "Demigod love. Even stranger than mortal love."

**A/N: Sorry about the length, I really am trying to work on it! Review! Because it would make my day…uh… night!**

**~playa**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey guys. I'm reading this over again and I can't help feeling that it's kind of eerie, like in a ritualistic, what-the-hell kind of way. So just a heads up. Enjoy!

Chapter 3

I held onto the Minotaur's' horn in my left hand, pulling it down to my level. I stabbed t repeatedly in the stomach with Riptide in my right hand, again and again. I heard nothing but the blood pounding in my ears and felt nothing but the growing tug as the water source inside of me tried to escape. I couldn't even feel the Minotaur's feeble struggles to free itself.

Finally, the Minotaur disappeared with a small 'poof' and a shower of gold dust. But my prize-his horn, my second one, for that matter-remained in my hand, as a spoils of war.

I stood stock still on the battlefield, staring at the horn, which was surprisingly hollow. But it was even more surprising to see that there was a small pool of liquid at the bottom. It glinted softly as light reflected off its surface.

I ducked my head and acting purely on instinct, stuck my tongue out and licked the contents of the pool.

A taste of nothingness registered in my mind. It was straight water, cool and clear.

I swallowed and suddenly realized how incredibly thirsty I was, even with the water inside of me. I up-ended the horn and drank deeply. The water rushed out in rapids. I never even bothered to question how much water was in the horn. The water splashed in my face and down my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes, reveling in how sweet and cool the water tasted.

Once I had my fill, I opened my eyes. All around me stood a crowd of people. The gods and the other campers. They stood in a semicircle around me, just staring. They wore no facial expressions. Their eyes looked unfocused and I had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to be something I wanted to see. Each camper stood in a line, and their godly parent brought up the rear, taller and glowing at the end of each line.

A bit freaked out, I brought the horn up to my lips to drink again, trying to appear nonchalant. I took a drink. And spat it out.

The liquid was a sickly sweet taste and it was much too thick to be ordinary water. I opened my eyes wide as I looked into the horn. Red, ruby-red blood now filled the horn, almost to the brim.

But horrifyingly, I couldn't stop drinking. I raised the horn to my lips again and took a long swallow, forcing myself not to think about what I was drinking. I knew that if I did, I would gag it all up.

But I failed. The word "blood" as filling my mind and I tried to stop, to push the horn away. But each time I struggled against it just brought another torrent of blood rushing out, filling my mouth with more and more blood.

Suddenly, just as quickly as it started, the flow stopped. I stood staring into space, in total shock after what I had just seen. Blood still dripped off my fingers and my clothing.

I stayed that way for a long time, in a strange tranquility. But a flash of movement caught my eye and I turned my head to the left.

There on the tip of Apollo's nose was a blemish. Thanks to my ADHD, I realized that I had never ever seen so much as a pimple on any of the gods. But here Apollo stood with a rather large zit on his skin.

I stood just staring at it until the zit started to twitch. The perfectly-toned skin shriveled up and fell to the ground. In its place was a single drop of _Ichor._

On impulse, I turned to the right, just in time to see part of Demeter's ear fall to the ground with a wet splattering of _Ichor_.

My heart began to speed up; the scene was like one of those old horror movies that I used to laugh at. Only this time, there was nothing to laugh at.

One by one, the gods and their counterpart campers all had their skin peeled away and bled out. I screamed when it was all done.

The ground was soaked in blood and Ichor, giving the soil a look of vomit. In no apparent order, the campers and gods all fell to the ground in disarray, completely drained of blood and life.

I tore at my hair, wishing for it all to stop.

In the end, only Annabeth and Athena were there and they were completely whole and unpeeled. No, Annabeth stepped towards me and opened her arms as if to give me a hug. She was the one that was always there for me, always there to catch me if I screwed up. Hell, it was thanks to her that I was still alive! So I stepped forward and we matched each other, footstep for footstep.

At the last second, she stepped through me, like a mist. I turned around and recoiled slightly at the sight. Annabeth had her arms wrapped around Luke and vice-versa. I had never even heard him there, right behind me.

He placed a sickly sweet kiss on her forehead and she beamed, ecstatic. She turned back around to face me-only it wasn't her.

Her skin was pale and, instead of flaking, sagged on her face, making her look like she had chubby cheeks. But there was nothing funny about this. She pulled back to smile at me, and I saw that the action stretched out her face, pulling it into a pained grimace. Her teeth were filed down to sharp points and she looked like death warmed over.

But her voice was wholly Annabeth, and I lost it when I heard her speak.

"Hello, Seaweed Brain. Miss me?"

I felt goose bumps rise on my arms and I fought to keep the scream that echoed and clawed in my throat down and out of sight or hearing.

Luke and Annabeth stared at me, dispassionately, their eyes dim with boredom. But worse of all, they were still wrapped up in each other.

I fell to my knees, eyes shut tight so I would not have to see the pair. But Luke's voice floated into my ear, sharp and angry.

"Why would she choose you? She has me! Where were you those two weeks? Answer me!"

He stabbed his hybrid sword, Backbiter, into the ground where my head was. I jumped up and out of the way, and he taunted and mocked me as we began to fight.

"Do you protect her? Obviously not!"

His sword flashed towards me. I parried the blow and bit back a response to his taunt.

"Do you make her heart pound or skip a beat? Guess not if she was wrapped around me!" A slash towards my midsection only just missed its mark. But he opened up his mouth to deliver the final blow.

"Does she love you? Even a little bit? Survey says…" he pointed at Annabeth and she replied, "No!"

I looked up into his eyes. They were electric blue and slightly crazed. Blood-red veins stood out against the white of his eyes. His muscles were taught and rippled underneath the thin membrane of his skin. His breath came out ragged and harsh and his blonde hair was stringy and unkempt.

At the sight of him, I knew that he was wrong. I straightened up to my full height. I thrust my sword at his right shoulder.

"Where was I for those two weeks? Where were you for the past two years?!"

He parried my blow and opened his mouth to speak, but I charged ahead.

"Did I protect her? Did you, because the last time I checked, setting the whole damn SKY on her back wasn't protecting!"

I slashed wildly at him, aiming to tear open his skin from shoulder to hip.

"I've had more than enough of you Luke!"

I closed my eyes tight and pushed al my weight behind Riptide as I plunged its tip into Luke's chest.

I slitted open my eyes and gasped. The tickle of long hair on my arm did not feel like Luke.

Instead of Luke on the end of my sword, Annabeth was in his place. But she wasn't demonic-looking at all. Her skin was tanned once again, and her eyes were their deep gray and full of knowledge. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders in typical "princess curl" fashion. Her mouth was open in an "O" of surprise.

It's ironic that I never found her more beautiful.

She looked at me in the eyes and mumbled something. I couldn't hear it exactly. Blood was already bubbling up in her mouth and probably her lungs.

It was only when she pitched backwards did I bend over her and shriek my pain and disbelief to the sky, holding her tightly to my chest.

A hand tapped my shoulder during my breath. I ignored it. My Annabeth was gone, killed by her quote, unquote best friend. My breath caught in my chest.

I was knocked forward then, by none other than Athena herself. She had tears in her eyes.

"Did I not tell you to stay away from my daughter?"

I nodded silently. I had just enough time to look back at the face of her beautiful dead daughter before I felt the cold, sharp edge of a sword pierce my skin.

I fell sideways, completely opposite Annabeth and sighed as a cool calming darkness came over me and I spiraled down into the Underworld.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but now I am! I was sitting in Political Science, completely bored when I got the idea to use the time after my test to write the next chapter of my story, "Loveless"! So I did. Then I moved onto this one, so thank the political system of the United States that I got this chapter out! See! Government DOES do something for you! Enjoy! **

**Oh, in case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to keep a straight alternation of POV's, so this one is in Annabeth's POV.**

The gentle chattering of my teeth woke me up. The vibration rocked my whole skull, making it difficult to sleep. Gods! Even unconscious, Seaweed Brain can be annoying!

I yawned and wiped my eyes. But then I had to wipe the liberal amounts of drool from around my mouth.

"Great. Now I'm a hypocrite…"

I peered down at Percy. His arm had been my pillow and it was actually pretty comfortable. That is, until his arm started to shake.

"What the Hades is wrong with you?" I pulled back the covers and squeaked.

I mused to myself, "What is wrong with him? What's wrong with me?! Did I just squeak?!"

But it was understandable. I just realized (even after straddling Percy numerous times) that he had not had a shirt on! My face probably made tomatoes jealous.

I looked at his arm a little closer and was shocked to find it flexed and tight. I felt various other places on his torso (Wow. He's really toned) and was even more surprised to find that his whole body was flexed.

His neck was corded and rippling and his shoulders looked like they might pop out of their sockets.

I looked down at him in horror. This was completely different from his seizures. Only his arm would be tight during one of his episodes, not his whole body! If he did have a seizure now, I doubt that I could hold him, no matter how much I liked being on top. He, he, he.

I reached across the bed for his hand and rubbed my thumb across his smooth skin. Did it relax just a little? No, couldn't be. Even in all this pain, he still smelled like the ocean. Clean and salty.

I pulled back my arm to itch my nose and was surprised to find blood on my fingertips. I looked again and saw that it was Percy's blood.

I gasped once in real fear this time. What was happening to him? At this rate, he really actually night die before he even got to fight Kronos! I looked again at his fingers. He was actually popping veins!

*

Two hours later, Percy was so relaxed; he looked like one big mess of pudding. But I, on the other hand, was tense. This was serious, and I was way past worried now.

After pulling his fingers apart, I almost broke down when I saw the four crescent shaped cuts on his palms. He had punctured his skin with his own fingernails.

Percy's skin was no longer tan and tight; it was more pudgy and loose. The blood flowed underneath the skin, and gave the skin a bright red hue. But underneath the red, I knew that he was bruised into an almost solid purple.

"That must be some nightmare," I mused. "I've never seen him in such pain." Dreams were no big deal for demigods, but I've never heard of anyone actually injuring themselves in their sleep.

I lightly placed a hand on his skin, watching as blood squeezed its way out of the pores of his skin.

I gently shifted his arm to the side, clearing a little room, and I laid my head down. And I let my anxiety overwhelm me and push me into a light slumber. My mind supplied me images of what could be in Percy's nightmare.

*

I woke up to warmth on the side of my face. Apollo stood over me, in all his boyish charm, and stared at me like one would look at a juicy piece of meat.

"Hey babe." He said with an easy grin.

I resisted the urge to vomit all over him and replied with a slight bow.

"Lord Apollo."

He turned back to Percy with a slight frown on his face. I could tell he was less than thrilled at my less-than-enthusiastic greeting. Chiron stood over in the corner, looking slightly worried.

Apollo spoke ten to both Chiron and me.

"He isn't in terrible shape, but it's gonna to take some time for him to get back to the swing of things completely. " He paused. "But I'm sure his beautiful nurse'll take good care of him." He winked at me and I lost the fight to vomit. The acrid taste touched in the back of my throat and I had to force it back down. Good thing he didn't see.

Apollo spoke again, while slapping his hands together and rubbing them.

"This is gonna be a pain in the ass."

Apollo placed a hand above Percy's chest and frowned in concentration, the frown lines making him seem older for a second. A vein pulsed in his neck. Slowly, swelling in the area beneath his hand disappeared and the blood flowed back into the vein, giving Percy his healthy tan back.

"Now I just have to do that a couple more dozen times!" Apollo grumbled. I had to grip my legs at my sides to keep my reaching up and slapping him. Slapping a god is one of those things that you just don't do, even if they are being pigs.

It was late into the night when Apollo left and I couldn't be happier when he did. He had been hitting on me the whole time and I could tell that even Chiron was getting a bit upset. He was such a creeper. A godly creeper! **(A/N: That sounded a lot funnier in my head…)** But the whole time he was trying to make a move on me, I couldn't help but think what I would do if it was Percy instead. I still sat in the same chair when Apollo left, just staring at Percy's unmoving face.

It was late in the night when Chiron brought me food. He seemed to know that I wasn't going to leave Percy's side and I was grateful. I nibbled at the food a little bit, before pushing it away. I was ravenous, but it felt wrong to eat, while Percy was still in LaLa Land.

I looked down at Percy, thinking how well his black hair matched his eyes. Not that I could see his eyes right now. I thought back to the first time that I saw them. I smiled ruefully at the conclusion of our meeting. "You drool when you sleep." I sighed, smiling.

A loud groan brought me out of my trance. Percy's neck was again corded and I was immediately alert. His neck stood out gruesomely and his back was arched and off the bed.

"Chiron!" I yelled while scrambling to sit atop Percy's chest, feeling very much like a bull rider.

But then his eyes snapped open. The whites of his eyes were a crimson red and his pupils dilated at the sight of me. For a second it looked like fear.

"Get away from me!" He roared, his voice deeper and huskier. At any other time, I would have thought how sexy that was, but now was not the time. He tossed me off his body like I was a ragdoll.

Chiron burst into the room at that second. He caught me and gasped at Percy's appearance, disheveled and covered with a sheen of sweat.

"Gotta train…Luke…Kronos..Annabeth…Protect" Percy mumbled in a deep voice, seemingly unaware of our presence. It was only shock that kept me from breaking down now.

As if hearing some voice call his name, Percy cocked his head up and crossed the room, his eyes unfocused and crazed. I looked at Riptide on the dresser and scrambled down from Chiron's arms, scooping the pen up. I shouted at Percy, "Is this what you're looking for!?"

His eyes focused on my face and then the blade when I pulled it out. Recognition and then fear bloomed in his eyes, turning them a darker green, and he yelled in his normal voice.

"NO! Keep away from the sword! I'm not gonna lose you!"

But then he stopped where he was.

"You're not Annabeth. What have you done to her? Where is she?!"

He gripped my wrist tightly and pulled Riptide from my grasp, hatred and anger now filling into his expressive green eyes.

I blinked and stared, slack-jawed as he pointed the sword at the hollow of my throat.

"What have you done to her!?" Percy yelled in my face, showering with me with bits of foam.

"I-I am Annabeth, Percy! Do you not recognize me?!"

His eyes flickered back and forth like he was in an internal struggle. But he came back.

"You're lying. I can see you right now." His face was expressionless, his voice flat, void of any feeling.

"Tell me where she is, dammit!" He pushed the sword against my throat a little more, summoning a single drop of blood.

I stayed quiet, knowing I couldn't convince him. He pulled his arm back and…

Chiron charged out of nowhere. He knocked Percy to the side and swung me onto his back, creating distance between us.

Percy stood to his feet and scrambled out the door, yelling out "Annabeth!" He weaved to and fro, looking very much like a drunk. He didn't even seem to notice the blood dripping from the miniscule cuts all over his body.

I watched from Chiron's back as Percy staggered outside on unsteady legs, evidence of how incredible tense he was, even in his sleep. Blood dripped down his body in little rivers of singular drops.

Riptide was still unsheathed and it marked a trail as it dragged in the dirt, burrowing a drunken trail for us to follow.

I slipped off of Chiron's back and leaned with one hand against the door frame to the Big House. I forced tears away from my eyes. I felt for Percy, I really did. He obviously wasn't thinking straight, even for a Seaweed Brain.

I spoke then, and felt a bit of pride in keeping my voice steady, despite the sea of emotion boiling within me.

"Chiron…he needs help."

**A/N: Hey! I felt pretty pleased with this chapter. You guys know that I love emotion in my stories, and I felt that I wrote it in pretty well. But it doesn't matter what I think. It's all about you guys! So tell me what you think in a review!**

***dances***

**~playa**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

My eyes flew open, the light blinding me after seeing nothing but darkness for so long. I blinked frantically, trying to refocus the world.

My body felt like it was on fire. Not like the feeling I got when the my skin was burning in the volcano, but flames that burned from the inside, drying up my internal water source. It felt as if my skin raged and rampaged from beneath, scorching my muscles. I gasped several times as pain overwhelmed me in waves.

Only now did the world come into focus, the extreme pain shocking my body. But the pain subsided as soon as I laid eyes on the most beautiful thing in the world. Annabeth was completely on top of me, a leg on either side.

I almost laughed. Almost.

But the pain came back almost instantly. One second, a beautiful, young looking Annabeth straddled me and the next was a horrible stunted version of her.

She was short and her nails dug into my shoulders as she bore down on me, like she thought I would try to get up. She pressed harder and winked at me when my body tensed up from the pain. She was enjoying my pain. She licked her lips as a flash of recognition flooded my eyes at this thought.

Her face was pale and the skin hung from the cheekbones like a case of extreme aging. Her skin on her face was a mountain range of fat lumps and sunken valleys. Her teeth were filed down to bloody points and her eyes were a solid black.

I recognized it immediately. Unfortunately.

The Annabeth imposter leaned down, pressing her center onto mine, and licked my cheek slowly. It would have been sexy had the person had been healthy. And younger. And less nasty.

But I gasped when I felt her tongue on my cheek. It was actually barbed! I could feel my skin ripping as small droplets of blood were teased out.

But her breath was even worse. A platoon of skunks and ten rotting garbage dumps didn't even come close to the toxic wasteland known as her mouth. I felt my skin burn icy cold where it played around my face. My body erupted into goose bumps and the hair stuck straight up on my arms. But, by far, the worse, was when she spoke.

"Perrrrccccy…I've missed you." She purred, or rather, it would have been a purr had it not sounded like a buzz saw. It cut through my pain and confusion, filling me with fear.

"I know you remember Mt. St. Helens. I haven't forgotten. I've been thinking about it ever since, wondering if there was ever gonna be another chance." She winked and leered at me.

"We have more time now…and look! We're already in a bed together!"

She unhooked her nails from my back and clapped her hands together.

I flinched back and she nibbled on my earlobe before I could react. Instead of pleasure, I felt the sharp points of her teeth clamp down on my skin. My body clenched and the pain surged, liquid fire boiling under the thin membrane of my skin.

Her hand inched off my shoulder, down my chest, across my abdomen, and to the front of my pants. And something clicked inside of me. Anger replaced fear just like that.

With a huge burst of strength, I choked out a command and threw her across the room. Not to the floor, but across the room.

"Get away from me!"

I waited to hear the crunch as her body hit the wall as my eyes were shut tight with pain. When I didn't hear anything, I cracked an eye open and widened them both right after.

A horse and rider entered the room. The rider was a tall man, and sat completely straight on his horse. His clothing was a simple white tunic, and light and flame sparkled and licked the cloth of the shoulders and the bend of the knees. In his left hand, he carried a large axe.

But one thing hit me hardest.

He was a skeleton.

And in his right hand, he carried a horn. A familiar looking horn.

I gasped as I saw that it was the same one from my dream. It was charred and rough-looking.

But the rider's horse was just as bad, if not worse. His mane flowed with black fire, strikingly contrasted against the white of the rider's tunic. It raged and hissed, and almost seemed alive.

Where its eyes should have been were just two gaping holes. The hooves never touched the floor and it levitated a few inches. It was clad in shimmering pieces of silver armor and it gleamed just like the white fangs that hung from the corners of its mouth. My mouth would have been open and screaming had pain not claimed me again.

But as the Annabeth demon flew across the room, her face changed into the one I knew so well. It had indifference stamped across it as if her flight was only a slow roller coaster at an amusement park. I was sure that she would shriek when the rider spurred his horse forward and caught her. But she didn't.

No, instead her eyes flashed with recognition and she nestled closer to the rider. He set her down and turned to me. I quickly clambered out of the bed as I took a look at his eyes, so similar to Ares' own.

He raised his axe and charged. Somehow, I was able to dodge out of the way, after yelping. I whirled back around to face him as he charged again. Again, I ducked out of the way, without getting kicked by the horse and looked around for the Annabeth imposter.

She yelled from across the room, and held up Riptide in Pen form.

"You want this? Is this what you're looking for?!" She cackled and mimed snapping the enchanted pen in half.

But then, out of the blue, the face changed back into the real Annabeth and she held out Riptide, palm up, to me. I crossed the room in three steps and opened my mouth and arms to hug her and shout for joy. But the demon came back, and my smile disappeared.

I snarled, angry at my self for not realizing the stupid trick. I glared at the demon, which stood cackling at me. I bared my teeth and grabbed the demon's wrist and wrenched Riptide from her grasp and unsheathed it. I could almost taste the anger and hate that surged from her eyes once her laughing abruptly stopped.

"You're not Annabeth! Where is she!? What have you done with her?!"

The demon cackled again in reply and I pressed my sword to its chest.

"Tell me where she is, dammit!"

The laughing stopped and Annabeth's voice floated from the mouth of the demon.

"I'm right here, Seaweed Brain. And I'm waiting for you." It licked its lips suggestively and pushed her chest out a little. I shook my head, trying to control my emotions.

"You aren't Annabeth." I said in a calmer voice. "What have you done with her?" My voice strained as I kept my anger inside.

I raised Riptide to her throat and pushed it into her skin, just enough to sting.

"Where is she?!"

She laughed in response and I applied more pressure to the sword. A single drop of neon-green blood spilled out.

She stopped laughing after seeing the look in my eyes. She looked frightened for the first time. She glanced over my shoulder and I realized that the horse and rider had been in the room the whole time. I rolled to the right without looking behind me, just as the rider swung his axe down in a wide arc, leaving a deep gash in the wood I had occupied less than a second ago.

I hit the floor and scrambled to the door. Blood flowed from cuts in my skin, and I couldn't remember where I got them from. I threw myself out the door and drunkenly ran off into the night.

I still had to train. As much as I hated to admit it, Annabeth was only one part of my life. My first responsibility was to the world. Anything to prove Athena wrong about my mortal flaw: loyalty.

Kronos was still out there, gaining in strength with every passing day, and I had been lying unconscious in bed for the past few days.

I shook myself and glanced behind me. The rider and Annabeth demon were standing in the doorway, staring after me with malice in their eyes.

I turned back around and ran even faster. Anything to put distance between myself and them.

**A/N: Hey. So I was pretty pleased with this one. Tell me what you think of it. Review!**

***dances***

**~playa**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Chiron, let me go!"

I tried to twist out of his arms, but his hands were like an iron vice.

"I can't do that, Annabeth. Percy's not seeing things correctly right now. We don't know what would happen if I did let you go. He almost killed you in this very room."

I still flinched slightly at the thought. He had tried to kill me. Sure, he wasn't thinking straight, but I just never thought that Seaweed Brain would ever turn on me like that. After, what, four years, shouldn't there be something deeper there?

I shook the thoughts from my head.

"Just because you want there to be something more than friendship, doesn't mean that there will be." I reminded myself again.

I sighed and let my shoulders slump.

"Alright Chiron."

I relaxed my body and waited for Chiron's hands to relax. As soon as they did I took off running.

I made it about three steps before I felt Chiron's hands on my arms. I huffed and looked back into his face, shooting him daggers. I swear, if looks could kill…

But Chiron just laughed.

"Come now, child, I've been around for far too long for that to fool me. Let that be a lesson to you. Never try to trick and old centaur."

He laughed again, and this time I laughed with him, already thinking of something else.

So I played along, muttering a quick prayer to Athena for strategy and one to Hermes for speed.

I sat back down in the chair by Percy's vacated bed. I could smell his ocean scent even now. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Chiron watching me, ready to jump up if I so much as twitched. So I relaxed my back in the chair, and shut my eyes as if I was about to go to sleep. A few minutes passed.

I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. Finally, when I thought that the time was right, I opened my eyes and grunted angrily. Chiron was in the exact same position across the room.

"Full bladder. I'll never get to sleep like that." I told him.

"Indeed. I trust you to go the bathroom and right back." He studied me for a few seconds.

I nodded one time, confident that he would never catch me after I jumped out the window in the bathroom.

I left the room, keeping a casual pace, not letting my anxiousness get ahead of me.

Once out of eyeshot of the old centaur, I sprinted to the Athena cabin to jump into the bathroom and grab my knife. The cold grip of the handle felt familiar in my hand. I ignored the looks that my cabin mates were giving me and bounced off into the cabin. All of the rushing around actually had my bladder full.

After I finished up in the bathroom, I jiggled the window up. I quickly swung my foot out and pushed off from the wall.

But I landed right on top of the old centaur. I was sitting facing his butt, seeing the woods and smelling the ocean beyond.

"Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. What did I say? Never try to fool an old centaur." He chuckled.

But I wasn't listening. Even as he was talking, I had raised my arm high above my head. I swung it downwards and slapped him right on the butt. He was half-horse, after all.

One second I was bouncing along on Chiron, a pretty funny sight to any of the campers watching and the next I was about seven feet off the ground, getting bucked off.

I would have laughed had I not been trying to not land on my face.

But as soon as I touched the ground, I turned around to laugh at how far Chiron was already. Damn, for such an old centaur, he could really move. With that I sprinted off to find Percy.

I found him slashing at a group of dummies in the arena. Each one of the dummies had a long scar along the left eye. My heart stopped. Only now did I turn around. All around me stood the other campers. It was completely silent as they watched Percy. It was definitely clear that he wasn't right in the head now. Hs movements were jerky and clumsy, even when handling Riptide.

He yelled at the sky and his voice was inhuman, a low grumbling ending in a high shriek. I heard some of the campers gasp and step back a few steps. When I turned around, I was the closest one to Percy.

"Thanks a lot." I muttered under my breath.

Just then Percy turned around. At the same time, Poseidon appeared next to me in a cloud of sea scent. I flinched a little and stepped back. But Poseidon only had eyes for his son. His gaze was fierce, protective, and so different from his usual casual, easy going nature. When he spoke, his voice was tight, almost strained in its control.

"What happened?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but just couldn't.

" He…ah, I was…um…"

But he exploded. "I don't have time for your ramblings, little girl! Tell me what happened to my son, or I will turn you into the very sea slug your mother is so fond of calling me!"

He picked me up in his arms and shook me, making my head shake back and forth.

"Leave her alone!" Percy was suddenly close up, anger burning in the depths of his emerald eyes. A thrill of terror and admiration ran through me, and I was almost unaware when Poseidon set me down.

"Percy, you're not well. Let me help you." Poseidon pleaded.

But Percy only had eyes for me. Recognition flashed through his eyes again, and he gave a loud cry as he swung his sword in my direction. I was jerked backward into Poseidon's arms. Seawater clouded my vision, and when it cleared, I was standing next to Poseidon far away from Percy.

"So my own father would betray me!?" He yelled out in a loud pain-filled voice.

My arms were sore where Poseidon had grabbed and shaken me, but I reached up and shouted at him all the same.

"Help him! How can you just stand there when your own flesh and blood is in this much pain?!"

He glanced down at me. I could see my tear-streaked face reflected in his eyes. He knelt down, and completely transformed from the intense man from just a few moments ago, he cupped my face in his hands. They were rough with calluses and smelled of the sea even more than Percy usually did.

But Percy interrupted us.

"Stay away from her! She's mine!"

My heart gave a jump, even at the most inappropriate of times. Why would he call me his? Sure, we were friends, but-

"There's time for that later!"

The wind suddenly picked up in camp and the ground turned dry and rocky. The water was being sucked from it. At the same time, six large cyclones appeared around Percy in a circle. They swirled and swerved, carving long furrows in the ground.

His body shook and the water was suddenly boiling.

"I said, stay away from her!" He pushed out with his hands, and one of the walls of water rushed towards Poseidon and me. Poseidon picked my up again and dropped me at the font of the crowd of campers. He was panting, out f breath.

"Stay here." He turned to go, but then cupped my face in one large hand.

"It is said that tears of lovers fill the oceans." With that cryptic quote, he waved his hand and a globe of water appeared, hovering over his palm. With one long look, he drifted into smoke and dissipated completely.

All the while, Percy raged in his column of water.

I did something that I had never done before, something completely unorthodox for a child of Athena. I prayed to Poseidon. I prayed to Poseidon for the safety of one of his own sons. If my mother ever found out…

**A/N: Hey all. I really hated this one. I tried to tweak it and everything, but it refuses to bend into what I wanted.**

**I'm trying to keep to a straight alternation of POV's and the order brought this chapter to be one of Annabeth's. So it was kind of difficult to write from this angle. But I tried. **

**And I also lied. It seems unavoidable to not include another dream/hallucination for Percy's next chapter, so I apologize. You know who you are. But after that one, I think that it will be the last one for a while.**

**Alright, so review please, and don't hesitate to berate me for writing such crap.**


	7. Chapter 7

I'm sorry, but I will not be able to continue this. I tried and tried, but I just won't be able to complete it. The whole entertainment of the PJO fandom has left me, so I just have no excitement for it anymore. I'm sorry. Anyone who wants to take the story on from here, be my guest.

I feel real terrible about it, because I vowed to never just give up on a story, but I'm just…blah, here.

But I will be finishing up my other PJO multi-chaptered story, Loveless, so you can go read that instead!


End file.
